District III workforce update

William F. Rayburn, MD, MBA

As ACOG Fellows and Junior Fellows in practice, our goal is to ensure that women have access to the best health care. However, the gap between the supply of ob-gyns and the demand for women’s health care services is believed to be widening. The number of ob-gyn resident graduates has not increased significantly, the average number of ob-gyn work hours is declining, and more ob-gyns are retiring earlier or altogether from obstetrics.

Listed below are important workforce data to assist in health care planning:

District III has 2,652 ACOG Fellows who serve a population of 11.6 million women

Professional liability premiums in New Jersey and Pennsylvania remain well above the national average ($115,000 vs $99,500 per year in 2009)

There are 2.4 ob-gyns per 10,000 women in District III and 5.0 per 10,000 women ages 15–45 (with the national average at 2.7 and 5.4, respectively)

District III’s female population is expected to increase, but well below the national rate (5.1% vs 18% by 2030)

District III has many ob-gyn residency programs (28), yet the number of graduates essentially has not changed since 1980

District III has a high proportion of residents overall who are international medical school graduates, especially in New Jersey

Nationally, District III has the lowest percentage of Fellows in rural settings (9%) and the highest percentage who are hospital employees (23%)

Only 8% of all counties in District III (7 of 91 counties) have no ob-gyn, which is well below the national average (49%)

The percentage of reproductive-age women who live within a 30-minute drive (95.1%) or a 60-minute drive (99.7%) of a maternity center is well above the national average (87.5% and 97.3%, respectively)

Demand for ob-gyn services in District III is projected to not grow over the next 10 years

The concentration of adult primary care physicians in District III is among the highest nationally

More information on District III can be found in the 2012 ACOG Workforce Fact Sheet for District III. For state-specific information, please consult fact sheets for Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The fact sheets describe workforce concerns, especially as they relate to health care reform. ACOG’s initiatives and actions that the US Congress can take are also mentioned as means to address future ob-gyn workforce issues.